I, Awake (self-released) is the 5th album from UK-based outfit Updownc. Their first as a three-piece, this self-released monster is easily one of the most satisfying instrumental records of 2017.
As with most instrumental albums, there’s a concept informing the mood and style of the music on offer. Considering the title, it’s little surprise I, Awake is centred around “sleep, dreams, nightmares, fears, anxiety, and night terrors”.
Don’t let the opening stylized synthesizers in the opening part of the Am I Awake? throw you off from what this album actually is; mostly a constant flow between chugging stoner riffs and post-metal ethereal jams. The five main movements are broken down into different parts, with album closer ‘Black Dracula’ as one grand finale. There are very few parts that would be considered so much as songs so much as vignettes of musical passages. But the way Updownc stitches them together means a seamless if roller-coaster journey.
Each part jumps from heavy to toned down and atmospheric and back again at short notice. It’s listening to that demands your attention despite most passages appearing and disappearing quickly. There’s occasional shades of Pelican or Russian Circles, but with a distinct tinge of desert and stoner rock thrown in. The six minutes of ‘Adrift Part 3’ is the first hinting of a full standalone song; Clean guitars make way for spacey synths before the big groove-laden doom riffs come in to blow the cobwebs away. ‘Looming Part 2’ is equally satisfsing; a full post-rock jam that combines hypnotic groove with heavy atmosphere. These two are probably the most satisfying standalone moments of the first half of the album.
‘Foreboding’ might be the most Jekyll and Hyde moment, with Part 1 being a pure swampy drudge of the highest quality, while Part 2 is little more than quiet bells and softness. Album closer ‘Black Dracula’ is a monster which condenses down everything that’s come before it into one: minimalist synth, Electric Wizard-like sludge, and theremins, all to a big crescendo before facing out. A Great way to end a surprisingly engaging album.
Given the subject of the concept it’s fitting that I, Awake is an album that keeps you awake and alert.
And there are far worse things to play when you can’t sleep.
8.0/10
DAN SWINHOE